Monday, May 23, 2011

Slave Lake Fire Update
Some of the evacuated LDS families from Slave Lake are being billeted near our home. George Gwilliam is one of the most generous people I know. He has cabins and a lodge that he rents out for income. As soon as he heard about the plight of the evacuees, he offered to accommodate as many people as possible. I remember several years ago that he gave an automobile (that he could have sold for a few thousand dollars) to a needy family.

The evacuees attended church with us yesterday. President Gordon Oliver from Edmonton Riverbend presided at our sacrament service and invited President Anderson of the Slave Lake Branch to speak to us. To me, President Anderson's words painted a vivid picture of devastation, but gratitude that no one perished and of abiding faith. Some of the homes and the chapel may now be reduced to "piles of bricks and ashes", but the people of the church remain strong in the faith. After the meeting I introduced myself to him as Evelyn's father.

Evelyn's family arrived for a visit on Friday and will be leaving again today (Monday). They chose to attend their old ward in Edmonton, but after hearing about the Slave Lake people attending our ward, I think they wished they had attended our ward. Oh well. It is wonderful to see them. They stayed with us, and also visited Laurel's family and Andrew's family. In fact last evening Andrew's family and Evelyn's family were all here. It was beautiful! Andrew and I walked around our acreage reminiscing. The grandchildren played well together. Alannah wanted to play with our white Lego horse. Who knew that we even had a white Lego horse??? We found it, and she played with it. It made me wonder what things our grandchildren (and our children, for that matter) will remember of us. And how surprising it must be for our parents to see what things that we remember, and how we remember them.